Pier Construction Ltd was awarded and completed the brickwork contract on this £25 Million scheme to design and build a new education campus in Liverpool as part of the £500m Building Schools, Skills, Success scheme (BSSS), which will see every secondary school in the city either re-built or extensively refurbished under the government’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.
The campus will provide new facilities for King David High School, Primary School and Kindergarten and the Harold House Jewish Community & Youth centre as part of a single integrated building on the current high school site. Situated on the single largest Jewish education campus in Europe, King David accepts students from all faiths and the new facilities are open for use outside school, to all members of the local community.
The Secondary High School specialises in humanities and the high school elements of the new campus facility will include flexible learning environments equipped with wireless internet access, allowing classrooms to accommodate new teaching styles and encourage more pupil interaction.
Client Organisation
Liverpool City Council / Vinci Construction UK Ltd
Sector
Education
Location(s)
Childwall Road, Liverpool 15
Contract Type
Construction of Education Centre, comprising of Secondary High School, Primary School, Kindergarten and Community Centre.
Start/end dates
March 2010 to January 2011
Contract Value(s)
£404k
On the ground floor, there are the “creative” subjects, including ICT, Business, Art, Design Technology and PE. There is also the reception area, sixth form common room and atrium. On the first floor, there are the humanities subjects (English, Modern Foreign Languages, History and Geography). The second floor is the home to the Mathematics Suite and Science Laboratories. All floors have “breakout” spaces, where classes can go to do project/group work. There are also ICT Facilities, toilets and water fountains on each floor.
The new high school will also have improved ICT facilities, which will further enhance the ability of students to pursue personalised learning, in addition to breakout rooms for independent study and group work, a new foyer and reception, sports hall and sports pitches.
The Primary School and Kindergarten provide high quality teaching and activity spaces for children from 2-11. Built as part of the project, the primary school is fully integrated into the campus.
The project was built within the existing live school site and required careful planning and co-ordination to maintain safe and secure operations in close proximity to the teaching staff, pupils and public. We maintained strict segregation of work areas from live school areas, developed safe pedestrian corridors and managed pedestrian and vehicular access during the works. The close proximity of the existing school required careful siting of access scaffolding and craneage to prevent over-sailing of live school areas. Due to the site constraints including the proximity of 2 major trunk routes adjacent to the site, site logistics played a major part in maintaining progress, site security and staff, pupils and public safety. All deliveries were scheduled in advance, delivery times agreed with suppliers and received onto site under the control of trained banksmen. Strict segregation of work areas from the live school spaces was maintained at all times.
The programme suffered from severe weather conditions over the winter months, necessitating accelerative measures and multi-area working to recover the critical completion dates.
Embedded in the community, part of the brief was to maximise Social Value during delivery. We engaged in a programme of up skilling our workforce through improved environmental and safety awareness. We maximised the employment of locally based operatives, increasing our staff by 15 over the period of delivery and committed to providing 2 site-based apprenticeship placements from the local area, to help create employment and opportunities for young people in the area. We supported Vinci Construction UK Ltd in their community activities providing media, staff and materials for school based learning.
